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January 31, 2013

I managed to get out for a run this morning, the first mile was pretty fast and awesome. I ran a strange loop around and in a local park, where I came across this somewhat muddy football pitch

I only ran 2.5 miles, the first mile was a decent 10 minutes, the second mile was an into the wind 12, and the third half was 5.5 minutes. almost 30 minutes of jogging/running. At some point, I need to learn to run longer. Some point before the Cardiff Half Marathon I entered!!

After the run I treated myself to some rye-vita and Boursin cheese. How do they make Boursin cheese sooo good?! I don't know but I could eat it all day every day. I don't though, because that would make me super massive.

In the afternoon I had a cheeky chance to use a real gym, and I jumped at the opportunity for an hour log weights set. I'm getting better and better at my pushups, I can do 10 lame ones or about 3 full ones. I'm still working on the pull-ups but I can do pull-ups at 30% - where I go down to a 130 degree angle or so (180 being the top and 90 being a right angle). Actually there's go to be some better math for that.

but still - too much math for exercise!

I did my new weights routine, which I will post at a later date, but it is a good one! I also added some extra core work like leg lifts and crunches.

January 30, 2013

I'm away with work again! I got in yesterday, which meant a day of no excercise as I got in at 11pm

This morning I woke up with the best of intentions. I was delayed slightly by some technical problems, but managed to get to the gym for a quick 45 minute session

I nearly flew downstairs, excited at what i might find! Will it be a big room? Will there be a rowing machine Will there be free weights? bars? something I can practice pull-ups on?

I excitingly pushed through the first set of double doors, and found a small hallway leading to the jacuzzi room

It was distinctly average

There was an unmarked door.

When I entered my heart fell. To me, it was what I would expect to find if a real gym burned down and only 3 pieces were saved.

I hopped on the treadmill first, a rickety old thing that shook a lot as I tried to run. I ran for 5 minutes.

I got a phone call that took 20 minutes

I decided to try the bicycle, but the seat was broken. I tried to cycle, but it was too uncomfortable. I tried to fix the seat (lower it) but it was stuck

The room had no windows and no vents, and it was getting warm. I tried to turn on the air conditioning but nothing worked. I propped open the door.

I ran for 5 more minutes.

And then I left.

I know I'll need to figure out how to deal with bad equipment if I'm going to travel and train, but I was so excited to see the gym and so sad with what I found that it took me a good 4 hours to get over the disappointment

Maybe tomorrow I'll find some internet lists of hotel room workouts. And if it's not raining in the morning I'll go for a run in this delightful north/mid-wales town....

When Sunday rolled around I really didn't want to do anything. In fact, I couldn't understand how I used to get psyched for exercise. Everything seemed so hard and effort-ful.

My friends were headed down to the indoor climbing wall, and with little else to do besides putter and avoid exercise I decided to go. I've not been climbing seriously for about a year so I faffed around top roping some 5 and 5+ and then led a 5+ and then climbed a 6a+ just to prove I could. Then to a bit of bouldering and some silly strength exercises and I was done.

I've also not been out with the Cardiff Tri Swimming for a while and I decided to rejoin them tonight, for their 90 minute session. 15 minutes in I was tired. 30 minutes in my arms felt like they were falling off. My 400s became 100s and since we were swimming in an olympic pool the laps were longer and the 100s were shorter, if that makes sense, which it doesn't. After an hour I gave up and went home. I don't think I finished my 100s, and I didn't get my 900 meter swim in at all, but I must have done at least a mile of swimming.

And now I'm so tired, and I like being this tired, and I'm looking forward to a weights session with Geraint tomorrow to whip me back into shape!

January 23, 2013

I havent done anything fitness at all for 2 days and I have eaten the most boring food.

This blog is about exercise and food, and I have done neither! So what do I write about?

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My housemates and I have gone splitsies on a Turbo Trainer, which is basically an expensive piece of kit that turns expensive outdoor bikes into stationary bikes. Because apparently it will never ever stop snowing, ever.

This youtube video is kind of funny! If you do cycling that is:

Tomorrow is my last day on Camp (which is away with work, because my work involves Camps). Then I have a 3 day weekend! Horray!

Time for bed so I can wake up tomorrow and do weights or cardio or swimming or swimming and weights and cardio!

January 21, 2013

This is exciting, because it never snows in South Wales. Ever. This is what I was told when I moved here 3 years ago. Since then, it has snowed every year.

At first the snow is fun! It is for making snow men and enjoying life!

Now the snow is annoying - it is for limiting outdoor activities and causing travel disruptions.

On Sunday, before the snow was annoying, we went for a hike up Pen-y-fan

Pen-y-fan is the tallest peak in south wales - almost 3,000 feet high. Sometimes it looks like this:

When we got to the top, it looked like this:

I have a little pet project of headstands around the world, and I managed another:

Headstands in hiking boots are hard!

This week I'm away with work again, unlikely I'll get much gym time in (especially since I'm backdating this entry and know I won't gym for the first 2 days!) so it will be one of those fabeled "rest" periods. Huzzah!

January 19, 2013

This is one of my most favourite ways to cook chicken. I like to buy a whole chicken at Lidl or Aldi and it's cheaper than buying chicken breasts alone... then I cook the chicken and bring it to work and eat it for lunch for a week. Because I love chicken!

STEP 1: Buy a chicken

STEP 2: wash the chicken (I may have stolen this picture from the internet)

STEP 3: Put the chicken in the slow cooker

STEP 4: pour a bunch of spices on the chicken (allspice is good - or italian seasoning)

STEP 5: Turn the slow cooker on low for 7 hours

STEP 6: take the chicken out and nom on it until you ate it all.

STEP 7: buy another chicken and do it again because OMFG that chicken was the tastiest chicken you ever ate and everyone thinks you are an amazing cook now and really you did almost nothing, you're like Martha Stewart but without the jail time or Delia Smith but not a psycho.

OM NOM CHICKEN.

THE END.

If you have any questions about this recipe then you didn't read it carefully enough. If your question is: should I add water?" then the answer is NO! If your question is: can I cook it on high? Then the answer is NO because if you cook it on high then you probably need to change the time and this is MY RECIPE. If you're wondering if you can stick something in the chicken butt, like an apple or an onion or a clove of garlic, then the answer is YES but still that's not part of this recipe. That's part of the ADVANCED EASY SLOWCOOKER CHICKEN RECIPE.

January 18, 2013

In Cardiff it 0 degrees at the moment. I think it's about 8 degrees in my house. I'm tucked against my radiator, typing in my small room with my door closed because I imagine that keeps more heat in.

Yesterday it snowed for the first time this winter, causing underwhelming travel disruptions and an office closure where I work. Luckily I have a laptop and a blackberry, which means I can work anywhere, anytime. Even at 6pm at the pub. I guess that's progress...

In the meantime, for those with days off, The Pear Tree Cardiff had a little competition on twitter to make a snowman and win tappas. My housemates were well suited to the task, as each of them had a day off work. With a few hours effort they created this beauty:

Excitingly they won! So we'll be headed to The Pear Tree next week to reap our tapas reward, and I may even be hungry enough to eat one of my favorite burgers in Cardiff - the Pear Tree House Special: A burger topped with Dragons breath cheese made with Ale and Jalapeños. Yum!

In the evening I tried to go to a Yin Yoga class from All Roots Yoga. Unfortunately it was snowed out, and so instead we headed to town for a cheeky pint at Fire Island (I had a delicious Beatbox from Tiny Rebel). Finally I made it to NoFitState for their new Drop-in Aerial Conditioning, which kicked my ass (or legs, or stomach, and especially arms) thoroughly I shall definitely return, as I've now edited my goals list to include:

January 16, 2013

I call it less-than-triumphant because apparently doing no Circus things for 2 months did not improve my circus-ing that much. But I think I am close to being better - just not quite there yet. My arms ache today and I was rubbish during my weights session this morning, but at least I'm back in the classes again!

NoFitState are behind a number of amazing projects in Cardiff and in the UK. People who are really good do amazing shows like this:

My teacher who is really good does things like this:

And the rest of us learn. We learn by watching and trying. The class only had 3 people in it, which is an amazing opportunity for learning new skills with lots of help from professionals.

AJ is my circus-bestie, she and I both took an intro class last January, but she has continued for a whole year while I've dropped in and out of classes. Here's AJ learning a trick way more advanced than what I can do:

Circus is amazing, but Circus with a Circus-Bestie is even more amazing.

The great thing about Circus is that you can tell people you take Circus classes! And everyone says "circuits?" and you say "No, CIRCUS!" and they don't really get it.

The other great thing is that it's full of awesome people. Imagine the kind of people who do Zumba but upside down. Or the kind of people who think "Pull ups? I wonder if I could do that on a trapeze!" Circus classes are more fun than pretty much any other classes. Don't get me wrong, I love yoga classes, and I love swimming lessons, and I love my cycling sessions too, but I don't smile half as much in all of those combined as I do in Circus.

So if you live in Cardiff I would recommend you go to NoFitState NOW and sign up for a class. Or do drop-in. I was in Unicycle Lessons for a while - those were sweet. On Friday I'm probably going to Aerial Conditioning, which is just going to hurt so much.

January 14, 2013

Sunday was beautiful! The sun came out and it stopped raining and I managed to get my bike in the car by 8:30am for a trip to one of the most beautiful parts of South Wales - Afan Argoed! I was trying to complete the (overly) ambitious Wall 2 - 27 miles of black grade trail with 3,000 feet of climbing and "two of the most demanding descents in the UK" according to the website.

To be honest, if I had looked at the website before I started I probably wouldn't have tried.

But I did it! Well I did some of it. I did half of it. But this doesn't really matter - I'll only do better next time! The important bit was this:

The view was amazing! Many people call the South Wales Valleys "Gods Country" and though that's often mocked by Cardiff people, they have a point. It's beautiful!

My Strava was less impressive - I'm getting quicker downhill, but my climbing and stamina are crap. I also forget that unlike road biking, going downhill on a mountain bike takes almost as much effort as going up hill.

The only rest was when I took a gently sloped fire road down a hill for a while. This was counteracted by realizing I missed a turn and grinding it back up the hill for a while.

Next time I'll probably just do Whites Level - It's about 15 miles and will probably tire me out enough. Looking forward to the next nice weekend!

PS - I'm sorry about the stupid shirt that I'm wearing. I once went on a mission to get a shirt from every state. I had a few, but the only one left is the above "Idaho? No, Udaho" shirt. Embarassing!

January 12, 2013

One of the great things about being away with work was/is that I work with a group of health conscious people and there are loads of healthy eating options available I decided to do a test and see if I could eat no cheese and no white bread/grain for the 3 days I was away - I did and I felt good for it! So I've tried to keep it up since coming home - sort of a cross between Paleo and the old Weightwatchers Core programme. Also lots of Aero Hot Chocolate because it is DELICIOUS!

I eat a lot of eggs and omelets but this morning I wanted something a bit different. I wanted PANCAKES! but I didn't want flour. So I looked up some recipes for Paleo pancakes and found one that looked interesting, so I chucked the following in a bowl and blended it:

That's pretty much a paleo pancake, but it just made me think of peanut butter and banana omelet which sounds gross. So I added a packet of flaxseed that I got as some free handout

and about 1/4 cup of oatmeal (which is not Paleo at all, but I'm not being Paleo, so I don't care)

And then I chucked it in a frying pan with tasty tasty butter:

And it came out like this:

Blurry!

No, actually delicious. Not exactly like a pancake, but not far off. I quite liked the thick texture, and I put a bit of Agave Nectar on it (because apparently I'm just being annoying now) and it was tasty tasty! My brewer half probably would have preferred normal pancakes, but for a mostly made up attempt at avoiding white flour and overly processed foods I thought it was quite good!

The recipe made 6 pancakes, I had 3 for breakfast and then I had one for lunch - cold with a bit of almond butter. YUM!

Tomorrow I'm off mountain biking - normally my snacks are french bread with cheese but I'm going to try chicken skewers and falafel bites instead. But I'm probably going out to dinner after, because sometimes a girl needs treats!

January 10, 2013

What's that thing where 2 words have the same start? Like my clever "wednesday workout" post followed by "thursday training". Anyways, on Thursday I was still away with work, but I managed to AGAIN get down to the hotel gym for an early morning workout. I also figured out how to log stationary trainer and treadmill on Strava, so now I have a list of workouts such as "stationary bikes are boring" and "treadmills are boring" which they are.

So in an attempt to keep me from getting too bored, I created CARDIO ROUTINE 2 FOR THE GYM!

I'm even going to list this under "routines" so I can look at it next time I'm away with work, which is exactly 10 days from now.

Going to the gym only less boring than writing about going to the gym, so I'm very sorry for making you read all this boredom. On Sunday I'll be mountain biking again (it's been a while!) So look forward to some better pictures then. Horray!

January 9, 2013

You read that right - workoutS! I'm away with work at the moment which means I'm working bizarre and continuous hours. Todays schedule ran from 8am to 10pm, but I managed to run to the gym 3 times. I also have the added benefit of working with sports people, so when I'm away there's loads of healthy food on offer. I've decided to try another bread detox (I was on one before I got sick, but when sick I ate everything I could because my theory is the body needs lots of food to make it better. Or, I feel terrible so at least I can eat comfort foods that make *me* feel better). Today is day 3. I've been eating loads of veggies and chicken and fish - and loads of fruit. I had 2 bananas today!

So this morning I was up at 6am to do my Weights Routine 1 though I only did 2 sets and the weights were a bit off because I'm not used to this gym equipment.

Then after lunch I snuck downstairs for 25 minutes on the stationary bike, Level 10, and I managed something around 8miles. Obviously the resistance is to low. I need to look into stationary bike workouts.

And after dinner I snuck down again and managed to run 2 miles in 20 minutes, then spent 10 minutes on the cross-trainer and then practiced headstands for a while. I want to be able to come in and out of headstand without falling - ie no thumping feet to the floor. At least I don't fall backwards much anymore.

I'm completely addicted to this song at the moment. It makes me want to run and jump and dance and be really good at stuff. I know it's misogynistic and also from like 10 years ago, but I don't care, I love GirlTalk!

Tomorow is my last day away with work, then it's back home and back on that bicycle!

January 8, 2013

I'm almost over my SARS. Being sick is lame, but the exciting part of being sick is getting healthy again! I've not been able to excercise since Friday but I managed to make it to the gym today for modified Cardio 1.

Modified Cardio 1:

Treadmill: Run a mile.

Cross Trainer: 3 minutes on 8, 2 minutes on 18, repeat 4 times

Rower: Row 2,000 meters

There were a couple of good points - the mile took me 9 minutes today, which is really good for me. Before I started running a mile took me at least 10 minutes, usually 11 or 12. Today I was tired after my mile, but I probably could have continued if treadmills aren't so damn boring. I think the interval training of Non-modified Cardio 1 must be helping.

The rower took me under 10 minutes, which is also really good for me. I've never timed myself on the rower but 11 to 12 minutes is my usual for 2,000 meters. 10 is such a nice round number that I have little desire to improve, except maybe to start doing 9 minute miles and 9 minute rowers?

Tomorrow I am going to try TRY TRY to get up at 6am for an early weights session at the gym. Being sick over the weekend set me back and I haven't been for a long weekend ride in 3 weeks now so I'm somewhat worried about my next cycling adventure. I don't think there's much I can do to keep my long ride stamina up, except long rides, and when you're away with work (which I am now) you can't really sit on a bike machine for 5 hours. Also, that would be so boring I would rather....

... I don't know, I can't think of anything more boring than that. Even watching paint dry would probably be less boring than 5 hours on an indoor bicycle.

If I am to get up at 6am I better get to sleep now, so goodnight blogosphere!

January 7, 2013

Recently I went for dinner at .CN - the authentic North Chinese restaurant on City Road. As part of my previous life I was a douch-y backpacker in China, and I have fond memories of eating my way through the streets of Zhuhai. I ate four or five times a day, I ate everything I could get my hands on. I'm the only backpacker I know who lost weight in Italy but gained weight in China.

The restaurant was clean and medium full at 8pm on a Sunday night:

and their menu was a world of excitement - so many choices! So many memories!

We tucked in to some TsingTao

I was excited to see Jiaozi on the menu - these boiled dumplings were my favorite hangover breakfast in Zhuhai. They were like I remembered them - the dumpling melts in your mouth but the meat is soft and delicate. Not an overpowering flavor but perfect dipped in a bit of Chinese vinegar and sliced ginger. YUM!

I was also excited to see my other favorite dish from China - Mapo Tofu. I ate this loads - often because I knew it did not have bones. Everything I ate in China had bones. I swear I ordered mixed vegetables once that had bones in it. Everything was delicious, but when you're competing against yourself for a personal best eating contest then bones get in the way. I ate Mapo Tofu like it was my job. The Mapo Tofu at .CN was spicy and sweet and the tofu was firm enough to stay square and absorb flavor yet so soft and succulent. It was prepared with a generous helping of Chilis - my mouth was on fire and I loved it.

My brewer half ordered in the very traveler style of pointing at a picture on the menu. He chose Pork in Peking Sauce with Pancake. Paper thin pancakes and succulent pork with amazing Peking Sauce - this dish was perfect. It's what I want when I order Chinese, and it's mostly disappointing when I order takeaway. Yet .CN has it just right, crunchy, flavorsome, lovely texture, ample sauce... DELICIOUS!

NOM NOM NOM!

I was going to be sensible and order some steamed rice with my Mapo Tofu, but my brewer half ordered the mixed seafood fried rice.

They did not skimp on the seafood! Some of the animals I didn't recognize, all of the seafoods were tasty! I've been disapointed with fried rice for so long I've given up ordering anything but steamed rice at resturants, but .CN made me realize some people do it right! It was not greasy, it was just full of flavour and perfectly cooked shrimps and squids and calamari and all sorts of tasty morsels. It was the aquarium in my rice!

Yummy a squid!!

I really loved my meal at .CN and I cannot wait to go back again. It would be great to go with an adventurous group of eaters as all the mains are surely delicious and I love trying different foods. I would really like to go back and try the duck tongue as it's supposed to be immensely good. They also do hot-pot for only £15.99 per person - a bargain if you're hungry!

The servers were nice, the ambiance was pleasant, the food was served quickly but with care, and the price was fab for such quality food. Looking forward to visiting again soon!

January 5, 2013

I had a wonderful day planned! First a parkrun at 9am, then mountain biking at Afan - hopefully to have a go at the epic Wall 2

On Friday I did Cardio at the gym with Geraint, which killed me as it always does. We used to only do Cardio, then switched to weights, but decided to throw in a second session this week and make it Cardio.

The cardio routine at the moment is as follows:

Cross Trainer

3 minutes on 8

2 minutes on 20

keep above 100

repeat 4 times

(20 minutes)

Treadmill

walk for 30 seconds

run for 20 seconds

10 seconds of transition

repeat 10 times

(12 minutes with 2 minutes walk warm up and down)

Rower

Row 2,000 meters as fast as you can

(10 minutes)

Running kills me, and might actually be easier outside because you spend most of the time raising and lowering the speed.

I've also tried to cut down on bread after Christmas and eat more protein and veggies - I had a healthy dinner of chicken and potatoes and salad, then an early night with no drinking (2 weeks no beer - detox!). All in prep for my awesomely sporty day of running and biking!

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and I woke up this morning with SARS. Okay, maybe it's not SARS, but I'm not good at being sick. I get man flu.

I did nothing but watch 5 episodes of Dr. Who and moan and drink Lemsip tea and moan. This SARS is the worst.

Hopefully on Monday I'll be fixed enough to try running with the Cardiff Tri group - that might actually kill me. But until then I shall moan about my sore throat and grumpy tummy. Oh (wo)man flu!

January 3, 2013

Core strength is one of my weakest areas. I've been dabbling in some silly circus skills for about a year now, but I'm not getting that much better. A lot of the tricks I want to do involve climbing ropes, lifting legs, and having excellent core strength so I can do things like this:

At the Moment, I mostly do this:

Yes, that's me at the end of "Scarab" I think.

So the point is, I can either try to do new tricks, or I can get stronger, or I can weigh less (less to lift) and a combination of the last two will probably bring me the quickest improvement (be stronger and weigh less) though with Christmas and my love of all things chocolate, I may just focus on "stronger" for now. In January I start the silks class again, and we'll see how far I've get (or how far I can fall) then.

So how am I getting stronger? With this

AMAZING CORE WORKOUT:

Leg Lowers - until failure (4 sets)

Hanging Knee Raises - until failure (4 sets)

Crunches - until failure (4 sets)

Bicycle Crunches - until failure (4 sets)

Plank - 30 seconds (4 sets)

And that's it! Plank is pretty much the hardest thing in the world. Some people travel to the moon, and some people fight wars, and some people solve complex math problems, but people who can do strong planks for long periods of time.... well those are people.

So anyways, maybe I'll do this workout soon. But until then, here's a video of me doing my only trick on arial ropes, and doing it rather sloppily. Enjoy!